Bride Of The Century Episode 9 (A SqueeCap)

Shuk: Our Doo-rim is sitting in bed, crying and remembering all the interactions with Kang-ju: the first kiss, the last kiss, etc., etc. He is heading towards the hospital entrance with a devastated look on his face. Suddenly, she rips the IV out her arm (another KDrama trope! Where’s the soju?) and starts running down the hallway in her hospital garb. It’s Race For Your Love! Is she going to make it? Do I really have to ask?

JoAnne: Well sometimes they make it and sometimes they just miss, so...

Shuk: FirstBorn is near the entrance when he sees OppaNotOppa walking in. The have a little staredown, and JangOppa asks that he do the honor of never darkening their doorstep again. FirstBorn tightens his jaw and walks past without saying anything.

Shuk: He’s jussssst at the final doors when she yells at him to don’t go. He freezes; as she runs up and backhugs him. Yi-hyun is ther, but he might was well be part of the furniture for all she notices. His eyes get wet when she whispers “I love you” against his back, but he quickly turns around and yells at her. She tries again: she doesn’t believe it and nothing matters but him. He tells her not to throw herself away because of him, and leaves her crying again. Of course, poor OppaNotOppa was a witness to all this.JoAnne: Well their happiness wouldn't be worth anything at all unless it broke the heart of someone else, right? Isn't that what KDrama teaches us?

Shuk: She’s back in bed, diaphoretic and lethargic, when Granny and Mouse showed up. After Granny leaves, Mouse sits with her and begs her to stop tearing herself up over FirstBorn. It’s understandable that she would fall for him, but she’s not the fiancée and she’s not allowed to like him.JoAnne: I do keep forgetting that, actually.

Shuk: Bubbles counters, what’s wrong with her that she can’t like him. She wants to hold him for the rest of her life. Mouse tears up at her confession.JoAnne: Apparently, so does she.

Shuk: ChoiMother is fixing her hair when Ajumma comes running in. FirstBorn has gone crazy and is smashing things in the ancestor house. Mom tries to reason; Dad slaps. FirstBorn is letting irrational fears control his emotions, and he needs to walk away if he doesn’t have the courage to face it. The two elders walk out and leave him emotionally destroyed in the destroyed room.JoAnne: Gee Dad, maybe if you had done something 30 years ago...

Shuk: Thing aren't much better at JangHouse. JangOppa accuses Ma of staging the hospital scene for her own benefit. Her fake sincerity makes me want to throw up and beat her simultaneously. He’s on to her, now, and calls her on her evil ploy. JangBitch steps into the fray, and it’s two against one. Oppa, you just need to pack up your toys and get the hell out of that family. Once he’s out of their earshot, he calls Assistant Park to investigate something.

JoAnne: Leave them! But first, explain how you're related to them!

Shuk: At the hospital, Mouse is asleep when Bubbles calls JangMa. Next thing we see, she’s determinedly heading out of the hospital. Jin-joo chases after her, but she tells her friend to just go to the restaurant; she has an errand to run.

Shuk: At first light, Bubbles is outside JangHouse. She makes a proposal to actually go through the wedding. Next scene, she’s outside the house, trying to call FirstBorn, and we get a flashback on what went on inside the house. JangMom playing outraged mother hen, while Bubbles confesses that she will marry FirstBorn, and if something happens they can continue the plan. But if she is okay, she will tell him the truth about the switch, and stay with him forever. Her heart’s in the right place, but her brain is clearly in LaLaLand if she thinks JangMa will stick with this. Sure enough, the two JangBiatches gloat after she leaves. JoAnne: She's been sniffing fish scales for too long. Why on EARTH would she think they'd go along with that plan even if they DID like her?

Shuk: At the mall, FirstBorn is getting ready to leave when Bubbles ends up blocking the car. There’s so little reaction, it’s almost like he expected her to pop up. He sits there as she gets into the passenger seat. She asks him why he hasn't answered her phone calls. He asks if she is recovered from her stay in the hospital. She says no; her legs are too shaky to get out of the car. He quietly tells her to put on her seat-belt.

Shuk: She spends most the drive looking at him and smiling. He wonders why she’s doing that; she counters she was lovesick but feels all better now that she’s with him. She’s ready to marry him. He thinks she has some type of deathwish, and she agrees that, even if it’s for a day, she wants to be his. That gets his attention and he pulls over. He tells her to shut up about it, and that’s her cue to go play in traffic.JoAnne: I don't actually like her behavior these days. She was way too cool to be THIS desperate. I get fighting for your love, but not this way.

Shuk: After nearly being hit by a van (no Truck of Doom, sorry), he pulls her to safety and finally listens. She calls him a dumbass for ruining their present happiness on some unknown future. YES! FINALLY! THANK YOU! She has more fear of regretting than she does of some danger. With that, she hugs him.JoAnne: She makes sense, but still. That brush with the Van of Foreboding was not cool.

Shuk: Cookie is eating with Mouse at the restaurant, and Mouse broaches the subject of the broken engagement. And someone else learns the Secret Who Shall Not Be Named Because Everyone Knows It Already. It’s cute that Cookie is a bit jealous of her interest in his boss.JoAnne: They should go make some crumbs.

Shuk: The Root of All Evil stops by to see her daughter about the rumors of the engagement. She’s leaving just as ChoiDad enters ChoiEstate, but they don’t exchange words. She just leaves, and Dad asks Mother what happened.

Shuk: Bubbles is at FBRS. JangOppa is there, and asks her what happened at his house with his mother. He tells her his circumstances with her are the same as the circumstances with FirstBorn, and with those comments, he leaves.

Shuk: At ChoiEstate, Bubbles and ChoiMother have a little chat. She admits she doesn’t want to lose Kang-ju, and any curse won’t change her mind.

Shuk: ChoiDad and The Root have a little talk on a cliff somewhere, presumably the Root’s mansion. He tells her that the driver was familiar with the hit-and-run that occurred thirty years previously. Yay! Another secret down. She is floored.

JoAnne: Too bad it's not at the bottom of the cliff, but I'm still saying there's more to that story.

Shuk: Ahjumma is playing tyrant with the rest of the staff when ChoiMother and Bubbles step out. The staff scatters for a bit of comic relief.

Shuk: Kitten Prince is chewing on a knuckle and going over his conversation with Bubbles. Yes, think about her courage versus yours. He locks his jaw and heads out. To JangHouse, where he formally asks to court Yi-kyung again. Outraged mom blah blah blah [yawn]. He actually ends up kneeling in front of her. She tosses him the necklace, and talks some more blah blah blah. He admits out loud that he’s in love with her daughter. She talks blah blah blah, and leaves. JangBitch listens in. JangMa immediately calls Bubbles and tells her it’s Show Time.

JoAnne: Ugh, kill her.

Shuk: At work the next day, Bubbles shows up in FirstBorn’s office, and he smiles when he sees her. She praises him for going to her house and he basks in her teasing words. He asks her if she has to joke with him, and she runs in for a hug and thanks him for taking her back.

JoAnne: The cute is cute, but there's not much to say about it.

Shuk: He tells her she can't just hug him whenever, especially in his office, and wonders if she’s a player in disguise. She smiles and tells him it’s his fault; he made her this way, so he has to take responsibility.

JoAnne: Were you a little shocked when she said 'can we talk about ways you can take care of me?' hubba, hubba!

Shuk: She smiling down the escalator. Wait, no kiss? Wae?? My grumbly thoughts are interrupted. Thieving Auntie is on the escalator and the chase is on. It looks like she’s yanked away, and when Bubbles gets to the store, Flunkette coolly steps out. They exchanged barbed pleasantries, and marriage snarks. Bubbles confirms she has no intention of breaking up with FirstBorn, and that her feelings are genuine, and she doesn't hate Flunkette because she understands her situation.

Shuk: Flunkette narrows her eyes at Bubble’s retreating back, then yanks Auntie out from behind some quilts. Grilling time!

JoAnne: So all of this just to position her as The Exposer of Lies, yawn.

Shuk: Assistant Park is talking to JangOppa, and tells him that neither the company, his mother, or his sister appear to have anything to do with the officetel in CDD. But he’s JangMa’s henchman; can he be trusted?

JoAnne: Is a KDrama built on clichés?

Shuk: Yep, the little toad tells JangMa everything. Really, OppaNotOppa needs his own assistant, methinks. He’s still trying to find evidence, and is snooping through his sister’s bedroom when he hears a phone buzzing. The phone on the dresser is quiescent, but he finds another one in her drawer and goes through the history to find that it activated the day before the inauguration party when JangBitch disappeared. And he finally knows all. Not that there is anything he can do with the knowledge now.

JoAnne: Oh sure there is.

Shuk: At Doo-rim’s, Bubbles tells Mouse she is making a lunchbox for JangOppa, and Granny overhears and is overjoyed. In the dining area, our rare medium has showed up again, but this time Granny is all smiles. She believes him now, so he whips out a few chants and warns her of a dark energy in the building. She runs to get him a meal, but says goodbye to Bubbles first.

Shuk: The medium spots the carnelian bracelet on her arm and freaks. He grabs her to look at it more closely. She pulls away and leaves, and he tells Granny something is up but he can’t talk about it. He’s outside the restaurant staring at Bubbles – should he tell her of her deathly fate? He decides that discretion is the better part of valor, and silence is the better part of cowardice, and says nothing.

Shuk: FirstBorn is staring at the restored ancestor altar, going back to lunch that day with Bubbles. She proposes they secretly exchange vows; even a ring made of a dandelion is beautiful enough. His smile tells me he’s gonna do something better than that. Back in the now, he speaks out loud to the spirit. He’s going to protect the owner of his heart, no matter what Fate has in store. Squee! I’m impressed; the spirit is inscrutable when she appears after he leaves.

JoAnne: I'd say inscrutable with a slight edge of irritated, maybe.

Shuk: Our couple exchange friendly banter and make plans to meet at the mall. Bubbles bumps into our Expositional Cookie. President Choi isn’t in his office. She waits at a stage, and spreads out the repast she made. And waits some more, until the light go out. Suddenly banners representing the different stages of the moon light up overhead.

Shuk: She’s looking at them when a ball of red string bumps the back of the foot. She picks it up and turns around to find Kang-ju at the other end. She’s pleased he found her; but he says she is always with him. Aww. He tells her the tale of the Red String of Fate.

“They say the moon ties together the fingertips of a couple destined to be together forever with a red string of fate. You and I are tied together. To the ends of the sky and Earth, even if we're thousands of miles apart, once tied together we will never be parted. Even if the road ahead is painful and hard, I will never let go of your hand again. I love you.”

Shuk: FirstBorn pulls the necklace out of the box and places it on her neck. He tells her to marry him; she tells him it took him long enough and we get a nice, slow, orbital kiss. [sigh]

JoAnne: They're the same size, pretty much, so their hug is very equal. They really pull in tight, too. They are adorable together, but I don't read heat, I read comfort.

Shuk: Outside JangHouse they hold hands, and he promises to take any flak from their families and make the arrangements. She watches him drive off with a smile on her face.

Shuk: JangBitch comes out from the gate and comments that she’s going to regret it. Bubbles turns and looks at her. Unbeknownst, Flunkette is also on scene and sees the doppelgangers together for the first time. She’s a smart one, so she’ll put two and two together.

JoAnne: She could be a drooling moron and add this up, though.

Shuk: JB sneers that thanks to the curse they both get to be President Cho’s bride, and she’ll smoothly take over since people won’t even notice the switch. I guess money doesn't equate to intelligence because clearly people have already remarked about that. But I digress. JB warns that the supernatural being exists, and therefore the curse exists as well.

JoAnne: And yet Bubbles still thinks they're going to let her just have Richie Rich.

Shuk: ChoiMother is rereading Wifey #1’s journal for the umpteenth time. Bubbles is making her way home pursued by a clumsy clickety-shoed Flunkette. She makes it to FBRS, and for some reason, begins to take off the necklace while still outside. She hears a voice comment on the necklace and turns to the see the Lady In Red.

JoAnne: I wondered about that, but then figured she'd have a hard time explaining the jewelry to Halmeoni.

Shuk: Bubbles finally realizes that this woman isn't exactly normal. She asks if the girl still believes in the bracelet. On the affirmative, the Lady tells her that her life is on the line. The streetlights suddenly explode, plunging the area into darkness, as she changes into the Black Magic Woman in front of Doo-rim’s shocked eyes.

JoAnne: Ok! Nine eps in, and is everyone clear? Two brides, one ghost.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Shuk: Well, this makes for a bit of an exciting end to the episode. We can check a few more people off on the various supposed secrets: Mouse knows the curse, Flunkette knows the twins. I still think the other brides’ deaths are attributable to human greed and not supernatural evil, but I think it’s going to be a hell of a battle no matter what.

JoAnne: With you.

Shuk: I’m glad we are past the angst and back on the Cute Wagon quickly. There’s enough peril going around without splashing around a bucket of Noble Idiocy. Now, let’s slay some dragons! Or at least pull the fangs off our Three Witches plus One.

JoAnne: They haven't exactly pulled the angst wagon into the garage, Shuk. Don't get too excited.